O3. L I P S T I C K  T R A C E S       

A few days passed and nothing went well for Hoya and Hyunji. They fought everyday at the most useless things. Firstly, Hoya got angry at Hyunji for touching his files and secondly, Hyunji got angry at Hoya for not picking up his clothes he threw everywhere.

It was a Monday, and Hyunji had the day off work. She jumped on the bed in a star position. *I'm bored...* She sat up and glanced around. It was too quiet for her liking. Then an idea filled her mind. 

The next thing you knew, Hyunji was blasting music while cleaning the house. *I haven't done this in a while. It's so tiring. But it burns time, that's good.* 

After mopping, sweeping and vaccuming the house, Hyunji went on to the kitchen and started to scrub pots and pans. Then she walked into the main room and started to pick out dirty clothes that desperately needed washing.   After looking through her drawer, she went on to Hoya's drawer which was underneath hers. Hyunji dug her hand deep under all the clothes and slipped out the old clothes. After a few minutes, she spotted Hoya's white work shirt. 

She raised the piece of fabric to her nose and took a sniff. Her sensitive nose picked up women's perfume. She recognized the smell because one of her friends from work had recently bought a new bottle of perfume which had just been released a few days ago.

Hyunji stopped and frowned. *Why would Hoya be wearing perfume...* It was when she saw a lip stain on the front that caused her world to come crashing down. *I don't wear lipstick...neither does Hoya...then does that mean...there's someone else?*

She stopped on the spot and thought for a second. Recently, Hoya had been coming home later than usual. She remembered Hoya's words of trust, but there was no way she could trust him at that moment, so she decided to do some stalking.

Late in the night, Hoya finished work and got in his purple sports car. He drove off towards the club he would always go to to meet up with Jinhee. Hyunji saw Hoya drive off and she followed him with her sleek black car.

After a few minutes of driving, Hoya's car stopped in front of a club. Hyunji parked her car the other side of the road and watched through the rearview mirrors to see Hoya getting out of his car and easily getting into the club. 

Hyunji glanced down at her clothes and knew that she wouldn't be able to get through the bouncers due to her ordinary clothes, so she waited. As more hours went by, she started to get worried.

What if it were true that there was a third party involved? What if she found out what Hoya was doing, would it affect the way she looks at him? Although they fought hundreds of times, she still loved him. After all, she gave everything to him.

It was midnight and Hoya was nowhere to be seen. Anxiety grew in Hyunji's heart. Then she saw Hoya walk out of the club. She perked up and stared at the mirror to see what he was doing. He was alone, but then a small and pretty girl walked beside Hoya, and he put his arm around her shoulders. Hyunji's whole body fell.

They laughed, and talked while walking down the street to Hoya's car. Hoya whispered something in Jinhee's ear and she bursted out laughing. He thought her laugh was beautiful, so he planted a sweet kiss on her soft cheek. They both got in the car and Hoya drove off to god knows where.

Hyunji watched the whole scene from them getting out of the club and into his car. Her heart shattered into a million pieces and nothing could help her pick them up. Without even knowing it, she was crying. She wrapped her palms around to stop her from crying so loud, but it was useless. 

Then she let it all out. Her cries filled the small space, but no one knew because she was left alone to look after herself. But the most stupid thing was how she didn't say, or do anything. She just sat there and let Hoya continue what he was doing.

-

The rest of the week, Hyunji acted weird towards Hoya. There was no way, even if she tried, that she would look at Hoya right in the eyes and say that she was alright. 

When Hoya did something wrong, she didn't yell at him. When she did something wrong, Hoya would yell at her, expecting a protest from her, but she would just bow her head and apologize, causing Hoya to become suspicious.

The real reason behind her attitude is that she's trying to keep the relationship up. She's scared that once Hoya knows that she found out, he would break up with her and leave her- she can't afford that. She doesn't want to leave Hoya's side.

Hoya thought her attitude was weird, but didn't let her bother him. 

At midnight, Hyunji was still awake, thinking about things. She couldn't sleep so she went to get herself a cup of milk. While she swallowed the liquid, the door clicked open, indicating that Hoya was home.

She went outside to greet him. He greeted her back, but saw her staring strangely at his shirt. Hoya looked down at his shirt and saw that there were lipstick traces smothered on it. 

His eyes widened and he struggled to make up an excuse. "O-Oh, that was from Woohyun. He wanted to buy lipstick for his girlfriend and he accidently drew on my shirt," he fibbed and waited for Hyunji's response. 

She slowly nodded and quietly said, "I'm going to bed. You should, too." Then she disappeared into the bedroom. Hoya stood there, baffled. Did she really believe Hoya's lame excuse just now? He shrugged and then went to take a shower.

Meanwhile, inside the bedroom, Hyunji was laying there in deep thought.

She didn't know whether to leave Hoya or just stay by his side. She was confused and completely lost. She tightly shut her eyes and thought to herself, *I shouldn't be thinking ridiculously. Hoya's right. I have to learn how to trust him. What if everything was just a misunderstanding? Maybe that was his cousin or someone...*  

But the more she thought about it, the more she grew worried about their relationship, *But if it was his cousin, then he should've just said so. Not lie...* She sighed helplessly. 

What would she do? 

Stay in this unhealthy relationship or break up with her first love and move on?

     E N D     

I sincerely apologize for the delay of updates. I haven't been able to go on my laptop because of an annoying sibling.

So as an apology, I will update in another hour or so :)

Stay tuned~